Zulfiqar Siyal Shah, 39, in his small, dingy room in New Delhi,
India, is hoping against hope that Pakistan's Sindh province will be
free one day. Living in New Delhi, thousands of kilometers away from his
home in Pakistan, life has come to a standstill for him. He has no
friends or relatives to visit, no one to socialise with, life for him
means waiting for another day to pass.
However, through internet, and other means of communication, he keeps
himself updated about what's going on in his part of his own country.
On being asked if he ever wants to go back to Pakistan, a prompt reply
comes, "Not unless Sindh become free or there is political resolution".
His wife, Fatima Siyal Shah, 50, has worked extensively on the issue of
human rights abuses in the Sindh province.
In the isolation of an alien culture in India, Zulfiqar and Fatima
mean the world to each other. When in despair they console each other
and tell that one day their dream will come true and they will be able
to go back to their own free country in their lifetime.
“I look at the moon at night and tell myself that people in my part
of the world would also be looking at it. The moon becomes a source of
consolation for me,” she tells WION. She often walks towards the window
located in the corner of her dingy room to have a glimpse of an open
sky under which both India and Pakistan fall.
The couple is living in self-imposed exile in India since 2012.
Zulfiqar came here on a medical visa in 2013 and has since decided to
stay back. “When we came here, I thought it will be over in a couple of
months, I didn't even bring enough items for our survival here," says
Fatima. Pointing towards her husband, she says, “Sometimes I feel that I
am suffering because of him, but who will understand the pain and
suffering Zulfiqar is going through if not me.”
Zulfiqar is a human rights activist from Sindh in Pakistan, having
worked in different newspapers and human rights organisations. After
working for two Sindhi language newspapers, he joined the Pakistan
Fisherfolk Forum as programme manager.Explaining his organisation's achievement, he tells WION, “Our
organisation led a movement against Pakistan Rangers who had occupied
the fishing bodies from the fishing communities.” The movement ended
with then Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf apologising on behalf of
the Rangers.
“This was the starting of my troubled times in Pakistan as I was
since then kept under close watch on account of the fact that I was
spearheading that movement," he claims.
But the real trouble for him began when he along with his colleagues
acted against the "enforced disappearance" of people in Sindh and
Balochistan by Pakistan Army. It was in 2007 that he joined SAPP (South
Asia Partnership Pakistan) and reported about 1,400 disappearances from
Sindh and Balochistan in that year alone. Later, he went on to form the
Institute for Social Movements, Pakistan, with his wife and friends, but
had to shut it down later because of threats he received from the
government, he alleges.
Zulfiqar had to seek refuge in Nepal after receiving threats to his
life for raising his voice for the rights of the Sindhi people and for
demanding the secession of Sindh from Pakistan. In Kathmandu he secured
refugee status from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR). However, he asserts that he was chased by Pakistan's
intelligence agency and alleges that he was poisoned by them in Nepal.
It was at Nepal's Himal hospital where it was diagnosed that there
were elements of thorium present in his body which is generally used by
the military.
Soon after he left for Pakistan, after getting initial treatment in
Nepal. From there he applied for a medical visa for India for treatment
at New Delhi's Moolchand Hospital.
However, things were not easy for him after reaching India.
The couple alleged that he was denied treatment at Moolchand hospital
because of pressure from Pakistan agencies. He later went to the All
India Institute of Medical Sciences where doctors advised him to go
Pakistan as written on his prescription. But it was at New Delhi's
Apollo Hospital where Zulfiqar was eventually treated.
Zulfiqar said that initially he was being watched very closely in
India by ISI officials. He could sense people following him even when he
dined out with his wife, virtually forcing him to remain under house
arrest. He wrote numerous letters to the Prime Minister of India,
President of India and the National Human Rights Commission for their
security in the country.
"We also filed a writ petition in India's Supreme Court and held a
sit-in at Jantar Mantar for nine months. Later, on the intervention of
Amnesty International India, the government of India gave us a long-term
visa, which we get extended every year," Zulfiqar said.
Zulfiqar is well versed with the history of the region. However, his
account of history might differ from the official history taught in
Pakistan. According to Shah, Sindh has the oldest freedom movement in
Asia and like other South Asian regions, has a multilayered history with
different interpretations. After the first Anglo-Sikh war in 1843,
Sindh became a part of British India and remained a British protectorate
until independence. Following which a majority of the Sindhis wanted to
return to the pre-1843 status. Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz was formed in the
early 1970s for demanding freedom from Pakistan. The movement is still
alive, he says.
He reveals that there have been three marches so far where Sindhis
have time and again raised the demand for freedom from Pakistan. In
March 2014, five million Sindhi people marched in Karachi demanding
freedom from Pakistan. But such movements have largely been ignored by
the international media. Except for the Afghan media, no other media has
tried to depict the plight of the people of Sindh and Balochistan,
which has the largest military presence apart from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Does anyone know that Sindh had seceded from Pakistan for three days
after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007?” he asks.
Stressing on the sovereignty of Sindh, he says that Sindhi language
has been recognised by India's Parliament and also the US Parliament,
indicating that Sindh is a separate sovereign nation.
Referring to the last letter written by former Pakistan prime
minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to his daughter, Benazir Bhutto, he says
that the leader had mentioned that Sindh would say 'Khuda Hafiz' to
Pakistan before Balochistan.
When asked about Prime Minister Modi's reference to Balochistan in
his Independence day speech, he says, “It will help Sindh too since
Balochistan and Sindh are twins, and if one bleeds, the other bleeds as
well. However, he asserts that Modi should also specifically talk about
Sindh which would bring forth the plight of Sindhis to the world.
Asked if India's interference in the internal matters of Pakistan
will affect the non-intervention policy of India, he had this to say,
“Not at all, when Pakistan can talk about Kashmir, why can't India talk
about Sindh and Balochistan which largely remain neglected by the
world."
However, such strong political commitment does not come easy for the
couple who in their struggle have lost everything and everyone. India is
a not a home for them and they are living here as refugees.
Fatima tells WION, “I used to often break down, but Zulfiqar gave me
strength. He consoled me and gave me the courage to fight all the odds
in a bid to secure our rights. After all, big leaders across the world
had to flee their countries and live in exile."
“I relate to the kind of work my husband does. Sindhis have suffered a
lot in Pakistan. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was our hero. When they hanged
him, the entire Sindh mourned. We participated in the movement for
restoration of democracy in Pakistan. Sindhis were beaten up and
assaulted then. My brother, who was just eight years old, was arrested
and kept in confinement,” she adds. Unable to hide her emotions, she
breaks down while talking about the death of her elder sister. "I could
not attend the last rites,” she says.
On a lighter note, Fatima says that she has more work experience than
Zulfiqar, but he is more famous as it is a male-dominated world.
The future seems bleak for her in Delhi. “I don't know what will
happen to me if something happens to Zulfiqar. Where will I go, I have
nobody here. But I left everything on God. Let him do justice for us,"
she says.
On being asked if they would be again going back to Pakistan,
Zulfiqar responds, “Who would not want to go back to the land where he
belongs, but not until till there is an international guarantee for my
life, and two political reforms take place in Pakistan, which means
ensuring equal rights and representation for all the ethnic communities
living in the country."
“If the latter does not happen, Pakistan will crumble into small pieces,” he adds.
Responding to his sufferings here in India, he says, “It's better to
suffer than to live an undignified life in Pakistan. For me, Sindh is
above everything else."
(WION)
